1- How do you see your growth in the Indian market in the coming years?

India is the second-largest elevator market in the world after China and the elevator & escalator market growth is mainly driven by the residential segment and by the activity and initiatives in Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities. It is likely to get even stronger in the near future, with the focus on initiatives like “housing for all”, development of smart cities & nnew infrastructure projects. This creates a need for taller buildings with even more efficient and innovative mobility solutions.

Schindler is responding to this opportunity with targeted investments & strategic expansion of our business in India. Our new state-of-art manufacturing facility, located at Chakan near Pune, is fully functional from beginning of 2014. This sprawling, world-class campus houses the elevator factory, a 71-meter tall elevator test tower, the global R&D centre and the new escalator plant which is India’s first MNC Escalator manufacturing facility.

We have a track record of introducing innovative products. Our machine-room- less and gearless elevators –Schindler 3100IN and Schindler 3300IN – have been widely accepted by our customers. These elevators not only offer them greater flexibility to design buildings, but also save costs, time, and most importantly, the space that would be needed to build machine rooms.

At Schindler, our experts from Top Range Division work closely with our customers to plan, deliver and install our high-speed elevator solutions, customized to the building needs. Our expertise in high-rise projects is evident
from the landmark high-rise buildings such as Shreepati Arcade, Antilia, Imperial Towers, Omkar 1973 Worli & The World Towers, which will be equipped with high-speed Schindler elevators (S7000), running at speeds of
4m/sec, 6m/sec & 8 m/sec, the fastest in India.

2- What is Schindler Ahead and its relevance for Schindler India?

The cloud based digital platform “Schindler Ahead” is the world’s first digitally connected closed-loop maintenance, emergency and information system for elevators and escalators. The new IoT connectivity solution is a crucial element of Schindler’s digital platform and will enable Schindler to better monitor, analyze and leverage data generated from its elevators and escalators.

The platform will provide the following breakthroughs: The powerful machine learning supported system offers a predictive maintenance service for customers, increases the availability of the units (Uptime) and accelerates product development. In addition, Schindler Ahead enables customers, service technicians and customer contact centres to access information (Insights) in real time and a range of personalized solutions ensures greater Convenience for passengers.

At the centre is the “Ahead Cube” a smart communication gateway installed on each connected unit. The Ahead cube runs analytics and transmits data with over-the-air (OTA) functionalities. Close Loop System: Customer Benefits

Attaining the leadership through customer service is the key growth strategy of Schindler India and today we have our service presence across 50 cities which include our 13 branch offices across India and headquarters in Mumbai.
This new digital solution will further help us to provide the best experience to our customers when they interact with our elevators and escalators while get benefited from this future ready and technologically advance solution.

3- How as a brand would you differentiate yourself from the others given the fact competition is too tough?

In the elevator and escalator space Schindler strives to bring greener products and technologies to its customers. With use of gearless machines, our products consume up to 30% lesser energy compared to conventional
systems. Technologies such as Standby mode when not in use, STM belts, etc also bring about significant savings in power consumption as well as space. Our products are almost 100% recyclable and free from harmful
substances.
Swiss products have always set benchmarks in terms of quality across the globe and are a preferred choice not only because their attention to detail but also their environmentally friendly methods of production.

At Schindler, we emphasize on end user comfort and safety. Our elevators provide more room while retaining the same shaft dimensions as conventional elevator companies. More internal room inside the elevator leads to higher
comfort. Our landing doors are 2-hour fire rated. In case of power failure, we have an ARD system in place which takes passengers to the nearest floor.

Usage of non-hazardous and 100% recyclable material in the manufacture of our products leads to better safety and health of the users.
An elevator is not a plug-and-play kind of product unlike other building equipment. Therefore, the biggest differentiator is the right kind of manpower. Just as important as the design and quality of the elevator, it is equally
important that it is installed and serviced by trained experts. Recognising the importance of highly skilled manpower, Schindler is the only company in the industry which has invested in the world class university in Pune and four full- fledged, state-of-the-art training centres – one each at Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and Noida. This training centres are equipped with elevator shafts and electronic control simulators which ensure that each of Schindler engineers and service technicians is trained and certified to work on the equipment, so that the elevators have the same world-class quality, reliability and safety which the Swiss company is known for.